Breath of Fire: A Frozen Fate
by Haytham
Summary: In a frozen wasteland of a planet, a mysterious chain of events takes place that will change the lives of everybody in the world. Not based on any of the games. DISCONTINUED.
1. Chapter 1: A Strange Sighting

Breath of Fire: A Frozen Fate  
  
Chapter 1: A Strange Sighting  
  
  
  
"There used to be a time when the sun brought warmth with it's light, when forests covered whole mountains rather than scattered patches of land. There used to be a time where in some places of the world people could walk outside almost naked without freezing, where people could swim in water without special equipment. There used to be a time when huge settlements called cities were built, and in these cities massive amounts of people lived.   
  
It is in these cities where a powerful and ancient race lived. A race that had immense power, and ruled over all the other races with ease, sometimes by fear, and sometimes by example. Members of this race were known as Dragons. Dragons looked very similar, if not identical, to humans. However, they had much longer lifespans, and much more physical and mental strength. It is said that when in private or in great emergencies, dragons revealed their true forms, massive reptilian beasts with the power to destroy whole armies.  
  
1000 years ago, the temperature of the world suddenly dropped drastically, and a new Ice Age began. It became impossible to produce enough food to feed the amount of people living in cities, and as a result whole empires collapsed, people became scattered across the world, and small town became the biggest type of settlement. Dragons vanished into thin air after a few failed attempts at creating new cities. Today, high technology reigns due to it's usefulness in harsh environments."  
  
Dyne's thoughts were interrupted when the door to his inn flew open and his friend, a human named John, ran in.  
  
"Dyne, you won't believe what I just saw as I was coming back!" John shouted.  
  
Dyne, a powerful woren, got up from his chair.  
  
"What is it?" He replied to his friend.  
  
"A dragon! A real live dragon! Just like the ancient writings described them!" John shouted, a bit hysteric.  
  
"A dragon? You can't be serious!" The woren replied  
  
"It was right there, flying above me! I think it even looked at me for a moment!" continued John  
  
"You sure your not sick?" Dyne asked  
  
"I saw it land in a nearby patch of trees! Maybe it's still there!" John said, a bit calmer now.  
  
"Well I guess it won't hurt to check it out, I was getting bored anyway." Said Dyne. He reached under his desk and pulled out his rifle and put on his coat." Let's get going."  
  
The woren and the human walked outside of the inn. As far as the eye could see there were sheets and sheets of snow, so a patch of trees was hard to miss. Dyne and John ran towards it. Although it was a patch of trees, it was still pretty big and it would take several minutes to walk through it. The two entered the miniature forest. Dyne raised his rifle while John kept a pair of short swords ready. As they slowly trudged through the trees, there was little disturbance around them. Suddenly, Dyne sensed movement and pointed his rifle at the direction where he sensed it. It was a human.  
  
"Watch where you're pointing that thing!" The person shouted. He was a young man, that looked like he was somewhere in his early twenties. He was wearing a small black cape, a brown jacket, black pants and brown boots, and arm-length black leather gloves. There was a sheath for a longsword strapped to his left leg. He had a medium build, light skin, emerald green eyes, and medium-length spiky blue hair.  
  
"Sorry about that." Dyne apologized to the man.  
  
The newcomer started talking.  
  
"No problem. It seems like you guys are excited about something."  
  
"You seen any dragons around here? My friend here said he saw one flying a few minutes ago." replied Dyne  
  
The man looked nervous for a moment, but he then started laughing.  
  
"A dragon? They've never been seen for a thousand years! What makes your friend think he saw one?"  
  
Dyne started laughing too.  
  
"See John? You probably are getting sick. Next time I'll do the hunting."  
  
John let out a sigh of defeat.  
  
"Yeah maybe you're right."  
  
The trio walked back to Dyne's inn. Dyne and John put away their weapons and coats. The traveler put away his jacket but kept his sword.  
  
"Can I get a room here? I haven't slept somewhere warm for a few weeks." The traveler said.  
  
"Sure, but it'll cost ya fifty zenny." replied Dyne.  
  
"No problem." replied the traveler as he pulled out the right amount and placed it on the desk. He then turned and started walking towards his room.  
  
"oh yeah, I never caught your name!" Dyne quickly shouted to the man.  
  
The man stopped walking and turned towards Dyne.   
  
"my name is Ryu."  
  
To be continued... 


	2. Chapter 2: Off to Wyndia

Breath of Fire: A Frozen Fate  
  
Chapter 2: Off to Wyndia  
  
The next morning, Ryu woke up to see Dyne packing some supplies into a bag. For the first time, Ryu was able to get a good look at him. He looked a bit old, around thirty years old. He had a very muscular build, he wore a very thick black shirt that's covered by a black jacket, blue pants, black leather boots, and two short gloves. He had light skin and the standard woren feline ears and his arm was covered with short yellow fur. Ryu couldn't see if he had any claws, but he felt they were there. Dyne also had short, smooth, blonde hair.  
  
"Where are you off to?" Ryu asked.  
  
"Wyndia settlement. I'm getting loads of profits lately and nothing in nearby settlements interests me, so I'm gonna see if there's anything worth my money in Wyndia." Replied Dyne. Wyndia was the biggest settlement in the world, and probably the only one which most people in the world know it's name. Items considered rare elsewhere sold by the hundreds there. It was owned by the Wyndian race, although many different races lived there.  
  
"Would you mind if I tag along? I don't really have any destination right now and I really want to see Wyndia." Said Ryu.  
  
"Sure no problem. I wasn't really keen on going alone anyway, since John has to stay here to tend the inn." Replied the woren with a smile on his face.  
  
"So, how are we gonna get there? Wyndia is a far away place from here." Stated Ryu. The journey to Wyndia from their current location would take weeks.  
  
"You'll see." Said Dyne with a laugh. He walked to a piece of wall and tapped his finger on it in a special pattern. Suddenly a door to a secret basement opened in the middle of the room. Ryu and Dyne grabbed all their weapons and clothes. Dyne headed down the stairs to the basement. Ryu followed, but not before taking one last look at John, who was sitting behind the desk.  
  
"I could have sworn I saw a dragon yesterday." He said in a defeated voice. Ryu smiled and continued down the stairs behind Dyne.  
  
"Observe." Dyne happily said as he switched the lights on in the basement. Standing in the middle of the room was a green machine standing on four rubber wheels.  
  
"Is this what they used to call...a car?" Ryu said with an amazed look on his face. Most cars were scrapped into more useful tools when the fuel used to power them became scarce and needed to power more vital machines when the Ice Age came. As a result cars became extremely rare.   
  
"Yup, and I'm gonna take it to Wyndia and sell it. I'm not sure if I want it anymore. Someone may find out about it and try to steal it and harm me or John in the process." Dyne continued. "Besides, I'm not a big fan of rare objects. It's better in the hands of some collector."  
  
"How did you get this thing anyway?" Asked Ryu. Suddenly Dyne's face grew tense.  
  
"I'd rather not talk about it." He said quietly.  
  
"I understand." replied Ryu. He has had his fair share of bad memories.  
  
"Well let's get going!" Dyne shouted as his face became cheerful again. He flipped another switch on the wall and part of the ground rose towards a door on the ceiling that opened. It was a secret exit to the road."Jump in!" continued Dyne.  
  
Ryu and Dyne both hopped in with Dyne behind the wheel. The jeep sped forwards out of the garage and onto the road. Dyne was a bit excited since he usually never travels at speeds like this, but Ryu seemed strangely used to the speed.  
  
"So how long will it take us till we get to Wyndia?" Ryu asked.  
  
"At this speed, a day or two. We will have to camp on the road side at night though, so it will take a bit longer." Answered Dyne.  
  
"Fair enough." Ryu replied calmly. An hour of silence passed. There wasn't much to see in the landscape, mostly snow, a few patches of trees here and there, and the mountains. Although Ryu didn't mind the silence, Dyne was quickly getting bored. He tried starting another conversation.  
  
"So Ryu, where do you come from?" Dyne started.  
  
"I don't come from anywhere. I'm just a drifter." Replied Ryu in a calm but serious voice.  
  
"Yeah I understand that but you must have been born somewhere!" Dyne said with a bit more curiousity in his voice. Ryu didn't reply. He just looked away from Dyne. Dyne understood. Ryu seemed a bit more open and friendly to him than most drifters he met, but it was still a mistake to try and get personal information from him.  
  
"...Sorry about that." Dyne finally continued.  
  
"Forget about it." Ryu replied in a friendlier voice than before. Dyne returned to concentrating on the road but something at the back of his mind bothered him. His keen woren senses sensed something not exactly normal about Ryu. Something not exactly...human. The woren quickly shook off this thought and continued driving.  
  
Soon enough, it started becoming dark. Dyne pulled up at the side of the road, switched off the engine, and climbed out.  
  
"I'm not really getting tired, but driving at night is dangerous. Besides, if we sleep now, we'll get an early morning headstart tommorow!" Said the woren.  
  
"Heh, I don't mind. Say, you have some food? I haven't eaten for ages!" Replied Ryu.  
  
"Well I got some canned meat in the back. Although we'll need a fire to cook it. You find something we can burn, while I set up camp, okay?" asked Dyne.   
  
"Fine with me." Ryu said as he turned around and walked away from the jeep. Dyne opened the trunk and started unpacking camping supplies. Ryu used the remaining evening sunlight to scan the surrounding area for plant life. There were almost no trees as far as the eye could see. But he did see a group of bushes about a ten minutes walk away.  
  
"There." thought Ryu. He started walking towards the bushes. The sky started getting a bit darker the more he walked. By the time he got to the bushes the sun's glow near the horizon was the only light visible. He pulled out his sword and quickly hacked off a load of twigs and branches. One minute of hacking later, he had finished. Ryu picked up the huge pile over his shoulder. It was very dark now, and viewing distance was limited, but luckily for him Dyne had left the jeep's headlights open so he could see it from afar. Ryu strolled back to camp in about the same time it took him to reach the bushes. Dyne had already finished setting up the tent, and was laying out two sleeping bags inside. Ryu laid the pile down in front of the tent.  
  
"Right on time I see." Snickered Dyne as he walked outside of the tent wiping his hand. He walked over to the jeep and pulled out several cans of dehydrated meat. "You got any matches?"  
  
"No need" laughed Ryu. His hand glowed for a second and suddenly a fire erupted in the twigs and branches.   
  
"Wow! Magic, that's not something you see much nowadays. Your better than I thought!" exclaimed Dyne.  
  
Ryu just chuckled.  
  
"Believe me, you've seen nothing!" Was all he said. Dyne opened the canned meat with a knife and emptied the contents into two small very old looking metal pots. He held them over the fire for several minutes before passing one of the pots to Ryu. They both ate the meat with their hands. It was silent, for the meat was nothing to brag about, and the incident in the jeep stopped them from starting any conversation. Eventually the meal was finished and the two travelers went into their tent. Although it was warmer than outside, it was still very cold and they had to sleep with all their clothes on, even in the sleeping bags. Dyne had a strange dream...  
  
He was in a dark, hot, rocky place, a tunnel of sorts. As he walked down the tunnel, it got hotter and hotter, but he could never tell where he was. Eventually he was in a very large cave hundreds of feet high and hundreds of feet wide. Small rivers of lava flowed in every direction over the floor. Sitting in the middle of the cave was a large black beast. It was very hard to tell what it was, as it was dark, and just as Dyne started recognizing it, he awoke.  
  
Something was wrong. Dyne raised his head and sniffed the cold air. There was something outside that wasn't outside the night before.  
  
"Ryu! Hey Ryu!" He whispered sharply.  
  
"What is it?" Mumbled Ryu as he got up.  
  
"There's something wrong outside. I'm not sure what it is." Dyne cautiously whispered back.  
  
Ryu didn't reply, he just grabbed his sword and slowly opened the flap that led outside the tent. Just as he started opening it he quickly closed it and turned towards Dyne.  
  
"Damn, a pack of currs heading our way. Quick, grab a weapon and you might not get turned into dog food." Ryu whispered sharply and alarmingly.  
  
Dyne nodded and picked up his rifle. When the two exited the tent, the currs, about five of them, were close to the camp. When they saw Ryu and Dyne exit the tent, they quickly surrounded them in a half-circle formation. Both Ryu and Dyne stood still and alert. Most of the currs seemed young, but one of them, standing in the middle of the formation, was bigger than the others and had several scars running along his body. Ryu assumed he was the leader.  
  
"Why aren't they attacking?" Dyne quickly whispered to Ryu, his teeth clenched. The currs seemed more cautious than usual, as if they were afraid of something. Dyne has had enough. He wasn't going to let the currs take him by surprise. He was a woren, and it was natural for him to have the first strike. He pulled the trigger on his rifle.  
  
The high-powered bullet slammed into the head of the nearest curr, killing it instantly. This caused the remaining currs except the leader to lunge at Dyne and Ryu. Dyne quickly dodged to the right and caused the single curr that was attacking him to land awkwardly. He raised his rifle and quickly fired a bullet into it's side. Although the curr was a large animal, a high-velocity rifle blast at close range was still enough to knock it right off it's feet and wound it heavily. Dyne easily finished it off.  
  
Ryu quickly dodged to the left and with a very quick side slash intercepted the curr in mid-air, knocking it to the ground wounded. Then with a quick forward thrust, he impaled the second curr right before it was about to jump. He pulled his sword out of the dead curr's body and with a powerful downward swipe took out the first curr just as it readied for a second strike. All that was left was the lead curr. Ryu turned towards him only to get hit by an incredible force that knocked the sword out of his hand and sent him flying towards the ground. As he lay helpless on the snow, Ryu stared into the angry, battle-hardened eyes of the leader. He only had a few seconds to think before he would get his head bitten off.  
  
"Well, I guess I have no choice but to use this..." He thought. Ryu closed his eyes and concentrated. Immense amounts of energy moved to every corner of his body. "This stupid puppy is asking to get it's ass whooped, and an ass-whooping is what it will get."  
  
A rifle shot rang out across the snow-covered plains. Ryu's concentration was ruined. The energy dissipated from his body and his eyes shot open. The large body of the curr above him went limp and fell on him. He pushed it off him and looked down at it. A round and very deep hole was in it's neck. Dyne's rifle was smoking.  
  
"Thought you needed a hand." Laughed Dyne.  
  
"Thanks." Chuckled Ryu as he got up and brushed some snow off himself. Apart from a few bruises, he had suffered no injuries.  
  
Ten minutes later, everything was packed and the two travellers were on the road again. The rest of the day passed without anything eventful happening. The volume of roadside travellers and settlements increased as the day went by, but other than that there wasn't much to see other than snow. As the hours passed by, the sun rose into the middle of the sky and back down. The sky started becoming darker and darker again. Just as the sun sunk below the horizon, Wyndia came into view.  
  
"Would you look at that..." Dyne uttered the first words since they set out. Although most of Wyndia's buildings were only one story tall, the vast amount of them were still quite a sight to see in this day and age. With their lights on, the buildings looked like a small wall of light coming closer to the jeep. Before they knew it, Ryu and Dyne were driving through Wyndia's streets. Most of them were empty, and since that was expected, not many lights were laid outdoors and Dyne had to rely on the jeep's headlights to guide him through them. Both Ryu and Dyne noticed a few parked cars, probably belonging to the richer citizens. Soon enough they were parked in front of the inn.  
  
"Phew, finally we're here." Dyne said.  
  
"If you ask me, I would say we arrived here sooner than expected." Replied Ryu. The two entered the inn and got themselves a room. Without saying a word to each other, they immediately hit the beds and went to sleep.  
  
To be continued...  
  
Thank you to anyone who reviewed the last chapter, hopefully this one is long enough. Keep the reviews coming! The plot will start to pick up next chapter. And exams are bogging me down, so don't expect chapter 3 for a while. 


	3. Chapter 3: Storm of Fate

Breath of Fire: A Frozen Fate  
  
Chapter 3: Storm of Fate  
  
Dyne slowly opened his eyes. He yawned, and rubbed them with his hands. His eyes quickly adjusted to the morning light and he looked over to Ryu's bed. It was empty, along with all his belongings. All that was left was a note on top of the pillow. Dyne picked it up and read it.  
  
"Dyne, sorry if I surprised you by not being here, but I really have no business in Wyndia. The reason I came with you is cause I'm looking for a place that is nearer to Wyndia than your inn, but still far away. But since you were nice enough to pick me up in your jeep, I left a small gift for you in my bedside drawer. We'll probably never meet again, so don't think about repaying me or anything.- Ryu"  
  
Dyne checked the bedside drawer and sure enough, there was a small bag with several hundred zenny inside it.   
  
"Man, that Ryu guy sure is nice. Not many drifters givin' away money like this nowadays. Shame that he left so quick." He quietly said to himself as he examined the bag.  
  
**********  
  
Nina stood on the balcony of her father's mansion, watching the sun above the horizon. It wasn't too common to see a day this sunny due to frequent snowstorms, so she tried to suck in as much of the beauty as she can. She was so immersed in the view that she barely heard her father, Mantine Windson, the leader of Wyndia.  
  
"Nina! What are you doing out there!? You haven't eaten your breakfast!" He shouted. Nina sighed she ran her hands through her long blonde hair as she spread her wings and felt the morning breeze as much as she could before she turned around and walked back into the mansion. Despite living one of the most luxurious lives in the world, she has still almost never stepped outside the mansion in her life. The only wilderness she has ever seen is the small amount she could view from her balcony. Although wyndians could use their wings to fly, it took a good amount of training and the way Nina has been living meant that it would take months before she could use her wings effectively.  
  
It was another boring day for her. There were many books lying on the bookshelves in her room, but she had read every one of them ten times over. And her father refused to try and get new books from the outside world. She had no idea why, but with the strictness of her father she was afraid to ask. Although no one realized it, her life was miserable. She couldn't stand living like this for much longer.  
  
It was about noon when the door to her room opened up and her father entered. The usual strict and stern look on his face wasn't there, instead it was replaced with a smile. It wasn't normal for Nina's father to look this cheerful.  
  
"Nina, I've been thinking for the past few weeks, how I've always kept you cooped up in this big house, never letting you breath any fresh air. Maybe it's time you saw the world a little." He explained. Although Nina's facial expression didn't change much, a great feeling of joy started growing deep inside her. "There will be a small competition between sharpshooters in the nearby wilderness tommorow. They will hunt animals in the wild and you and me will watch them from a safe tent with binoculars. It will be just as safe as the mansion, but atleast you'll get to go outside a little, right?"  
  
With that, Mantine smiled one last time and left the room. The fact that she wasn't going to travel very far decreased the happiness inside Nina, but the sheer thought that she was going to leave this wretched mansion meant that this was still a great occasion to look forward to.  
  
The next day Nina and her father were sitting in a jeep heading into the wilderness surrounding Wyndia. There were several other jeeps behind them and in front of them. Nina was excited, but she kept her calm and admired the view. Eventually the convoy of jeeps drew to a stop. Mantine took a look around.  
  
"So this is where the snow deer roam?" He asked nobody in particular.  
  
"Yes sir." Replied the driver.  
  
"So let's set up camp!"  
  
The convoy stopped and all the hunters and drivers got out and started unloading the supplies. It took almost half an hour, but soon enough the camp was set up. Nina and Mantine sat in a small shaded area with two powerful binoculars. As the hunters set out towards a distant deer herd, Mantine kept his binoculars concentrated on them. As for Nina, she was pointing her own pair in all directions, admiring the snow-kissed landscape.  
  
Around ten minutes later, the first shot rang out. Nina, quickly pointed her binoculars at the distant deer herd. One young deer was dead on the ground, blood pouring out of it's neck. Just as Nina started feeling sorry for it, more shots rang out, and more deer fell. Nina had never imagined that hunting would be this horrible, so lowered her binoculars and turned towards her father, who was excitedly looking at the action with a large grin on his face.  
  
She opened her mouth to protest, but hesitated, knowing how her father can turn from a good-mannered man to a raging tyrant in a few seconds. She just sighed, tried to push the image of the bleeding deer out of her head, and started admiring the landscape without paying attentions to the distant gunshots.  
  
But not for long. Several minutes later, her father lowered his binoculars and looked up at the sky in fear. One of the strangest and dangerous natural phenomenoms of this world was occuring. It was a Flash Blizzard, extremely powerful snow storms that seemed to appear out of thin air. Even the surviving ancient computers can only predict this disaster mere minutes before it starts. It has baffled scientists for centuries.  
  
As if on cue, the world grew darker as the speedy concentration of black clouds blocked out the sun, the winds suddenly strengthened immensely, the gunshots in the distance stopped as the hunters realized what was about to happen. Within a few minutes visibility had been lowered to a few meters.  
  
"Nina quick! Get to a tent!" Shouted Mantine as he quickly got up from his chair and walked towards one. Nina quickly followed him to the nearest tent. Her father got in first, and just as she reached for the opening flap to climb in herself, it happened.   
  
For a second or so, the winds accelerated to an extremely and unbelievably high speed. This caused the parked jeeps' wheels to lift a couple of feet off the ground, the chairs and canopy of the sitting area were blown away like feathers, the tents would have followed suit if they weren't packed with people.  
  
As for the small and light Nina, the strong gust of wind blew her clean off her feet, and made her temporarily airborne. Her wings instinctively spread a bit, which didn't help. within a few seconds she roughly hit the snow. She stood up and brushed the snow off her, then looked around for camp. Although it was a few seconds' walk away, she could barely see more than a yard.  
  
"Father!" she shouted. Her voice was drowned out by the wind the instant it left her mouth.  
  
"Father!" She tried again, but it was still useless.  
  
  
  
Panicking, she ran in the direction that she thought led to the camp. After several seconds of running, it was obvious she was going to the wrong way, but she ran on anyway. She wasn't sure how long she ran. It may have been minutes. It may have been hours. But she kept on running, hoping that something would happen.  
  
Another very powerful gust of wind blew, and once again Nina was sent flying. Except this time, instead of a smooth landing on the snow, her head smashed into a tree and everything went black.  
  
**********  
  
  
  
The next morning, Dyne stepped out of the inn. He looked as teams of citizens started shoveling the snow off the streets.  
  
"Phew, that storm yesterday sure was strong." He remarked to himself. Then he remembered that he didn't have a vehicle, as he had sold the jeep the day before, so the journey back to his own inn was going to be long. But it was going to be worth it, as he had made a small fortune the day before on the market. He grinned at the thought of John's face.  
  
He walked towards the edge of the settlement, on his way he overheard a conversation between two humans.  
  
"I heard that Mantine's daughter went missing in yesterday's storm." Said the first.  
  
"Missing? The way that guy treats his girl makes me think she just wandered out of her room!" Laughed the second human.  
  
Dyne thought about it for a moment, but his mind quickly returned to the journey and the money he made, so within a few seconds he was on his way again.  
  
To be continued...  
  
AUTHOR's NOTE: Okay, I know it has been quite a while since I last posted a chapter for this fic, and for the time it took this chapter is a bit short and boring, but I had a severe case of writer's block so I needed to just get this chapter out of the way. I swear that the plot is going to pick up next chapter, the first three are just an introduction to the world and characters. Since my mind is free now, expect the next chapter to be up a bit faster than this one.   
  
And for those wondering, while Dyne may be out of the fic for a while, I don't throw good characters away for no reason. That's all I'm going to say.  
  
Oh yeah, and thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter 2, and please review this one! 


	4. Chapter 4: Awakening

Author's Note 1: From this point on, the amount of violence in this story will steeply rise. I'm not sure if I should raise the rating to R, as I don't plan on adding anything sexual, nor will the violence level rise much above what you see in this chapter. If you can suggest to me if this fic should stay as PG-13 or be raised to R then please do.  
  
Breath of Fire: A Frozen Fate  
  
Chapter 4: Awakening  
  
Nina finally started to sense the world around her again. The place she was in seemed much warmer than where she was right before she was knocked out. As her eyes focused, she saw that she was staring at the roof of a tent. She had a bad headache, but otherwise she felt fine. She noticed that the entrance to the tent was open so she crawled out and got up on her feet.  
  
The camp she was in was set up in a small clearing in the middle of a forest. There was a beautiful morning sun in the sky. As Nina brushed snow off herself, she heard his voice for the first time.  
  
"I see that you're up."  
  
Nina turned towards the direction of the voice to see a blue-haired young man sitting in front of a the remains of a small fire, probably used the night before. She jumped back in surprise when she saw what he was doing. Lying the snow, next to him, was a long sword, it's blade shining in the light of the sun. In his hand he held a large sub-machine gun, which he was currently cleaning with a handkerchief. When the person saw Nina's reaction to the weapons, he let out a small chuckle.  
  
"Don't worry, I don't run around shooting lone girls with this thing. Hell, I don't use it that much anyways. Ammo's pretty scarce, you know." he said as he laid the gun down and got up to his feet. "The name's Ryu."  
  
"N...N...Nina." Was all Nina said.  
  
"Well Nina, I hate to say this, but it's not everyday you see young female Wyndians running around the wilderness alone. If I hadn't found you, who knows what could have happened?" Ryu said. This sentence reminded Nina of her father and his overprotectiveness, so her anger rose up a notch. As she was going to reply, she looked deep into Ryu's emerald green eyes and suddenly a chill rose up her spine, for no apparent reason. Whatever words there were in her mind dissipated, and Ryu continued talking.  
  
"Besides, I prefer to travel alone. Come with me if you like, but I'll have to drop you off at the next settlement."  
  
Nina's rage rose even more when she heard this. It was her first chance at total freedom, and already she was going to return to that prison of a mansion. She started to protest, but another look into Ryu's eyes and suddenly she calmed down. She didn't know why, but a strange, soothing feeling overcame her.  
  
"Well, you don't seem to object, so all's good." Said Ryu, with a large grin on his face. Within several minutes they had packed camp and set off. They walked for several hours, but stopped frequently so Nina could rest for a few minutes.  
  
"You really aren't used to walking, are you?" Ryu asked around the tenth time they had stopped. Nina flinched when she heard this. Not only did she take it as an insult, but she risked revealing who she was to this stranger. But she had no other explanation.  
  
"...no, I'm not." She replied.  
  
"So what caused you to start knocking yourself out in snowstorms?"   
  
"I'm...let's just say I'm lost."  
  
"Well, I'll leave it at that I guess. The next settlement is only a few hours down the road."  
  
Nina noticed that Ryu didn't use a map or compass while travelling, yet can still accurately guess how much time and distance until a certain location, and this struck her as strange. And this news made her realize that it wasn't much time before she was locked up in the mansion again, so she started to absorb as much of the natural scenery as she can, to the point that Ryu puzzlingly turned towards her.  
  
"You sure you're ok? It's like you've never seen snow before." He said. Nina kept silent, but calmed down yet still tried to look around as much as she could. Several more silent hours passed and they finally got to a hill.  
  
"Here, we'll just have to climb this one hill and Duran settlement should be within sight." Ryu stated as they started walking up the hill. When they reached the top, Ryu's face tensed, and Nina opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out. Rather, she took in a very sharp gasp.  
  
Large plumes of smoke filled the air above the settlement, as fires raged within the destroyed houses. Not a single building was left in one piece, and many were completely demolished. But what really disgusted both Nina and Ryu was the bloodshed. Bodies of women, men, and children littered the streets, most of them riddled with bullets, and some of the men clutching weapons in their hands.  
  
Nina fell to her knees, her face in shock, and her wings dropping involuntarily, while Ryu clutched his fist and let out a quiet angry growl, which was very calm considering the situation.  
  
"I've seen this happen before. It's them, no doubt about it, only they can do this..." Ryu slowly muttered. Nina was still frozen in place looking at the horrible scene before her. She had never thought that she would see so much carnage in her life, much less in her first day out of her mansion. Ryu turned towards her.  
  
"It's not safe standing out here in the open. We'll have to take shelter in the ruins of the settlement." He continued. The thought of going anywhere near that place made Nina's blood turn cold. Ryu grabbed her arm and pulled it hard, forcing her to her feet. They both ran into the settlement, and while Ryu seemed relatively unphased, Nina closed her eyes and started sobbing softly, and wished that this was a dream and that she would wake up in her mansion at home.  
  
Eventually the stench of rotting meat lessened and she opened her eyes to find herself in a dark room with Ryu standing beside her. They were inside one of the houses that were still in one piece, and apparently the house was empty when the killing occured, as there was no sign or smell of blood.  
  
"This place seems safe enough." Remarked Ryu as he looked through the darkness. Indeed, there seemed to be two beds and not much else in this small metal hut. "They might still be here. Let's sleep for now and escape at midnight."  
  
Nina had no idea who "they" were, and after seeing the events outside, coupled with the fact that she had only woken up several hours ago, she didn't feel like sleeping at all. But the thought of ending up like the corpses outside caused her heart to skip a beat.  
  
"O...o...k." Was all her tight throat let out.  
  
"You don't seem to talk too much." Ryu stated, a bit grimly. Nina would have replied, but there was too much on her mind, so she just laid down on her bed and looked up at the ceiling until eventually her brain was asleep.  
  
A loud banging on the door woke her up. Ryu was already awake and cautiously approaching the locked door. Nina watched quietly as he drew his sword, and suddenly thrust it through the flimsy door. The banging stopped and there was a suprised scream along with an agonizing one that made Nina's blood curdle. Ryu pulled his sword out of the door and the tip was covered in red. Nina stared in horror.  
  
"Eat this you bastard!" A voice from the other side shouted.  
  
"Nina move to the side of the room NOW!!!" Screamed Ryu. Nina instinctively jumped to the side as an automatic weapon on the other side of the door opened fire, blowing holes through the door and pestering the wall that was behind Nina moments ago with bullets.  
  
"Who-Who are these people?" Nina managed to gasp out as she got back onto her legs.  
  
"I'll tell you later. Right now we have to make sure we don't turn into organic pencils. You know any magic?" Ryu quickly shouted over the gunfire as he drew his sub-machine gun from his jacket.  
  
Nina, being a Wyndian, knew some magic naturally, but she doubted that it could do much more than minor burns or bruises. Yet she nodded anyways.  
  
"Good." Ryu held the gun in his right hand, and kept his sword in his left. Within a few seconds the gunfire had stopped. "I counted 50 bullets. If the weapon he's using is the same as the one I'm thinking of, we might have more than enough time to get the drop on him."  
  
"You counted WHAT?" Nina whispered sharply back in amazement. Ryu ignored her as he quickly undid the lock on the door and kicked it open. As the door flew open, Nina saw two things. First, there was a dead human on the ground with a bleeding gash in his chest, no doubt caused by Ryu's sword. The second thing was a panicked woren gunman in a black jacket with a strange round symbol on it and thick pants raising a small sub-machine gun at Ryu. However, there was barely three feet between Ryu and the woren, so with one quick slash of the former's sword, the latter's arm was severed. He barely had time to scream before a quick thrust into his heart put him out of commission. Ryu pulled the blood-stained sword out of the woren's body and quickly surveyed the street they were on. It was middle of the night by now, and the settlement's electricity generator had been destroyed by whatever slaughtered the population in the first place, so he couldn't see much, but nor did any possible assailants.  
  
Nina's consciousness was horrified by all this killing, even though the people killed were murderers. The other, more logical part of her mind however, was going into survival mode for the first time in her life. The magic reserves inside her body activated, and andrenaline pumped into her veins. She was ready to fight.  
  
"The gunfire should have got the attention of any more guys in the area. We have to leave this place NOW." Ryu muttered. As if on cue, a grassrunner and human wearing the same clothes as the woren from earlier appeared from the darkness of the night. They both sported assault rifles. Ryu quickly and accurately fired a burst from his weapon, wounding the human if not outright killing him.  
  
"What the hell?" Shouted a surprised grassrunner as he saw what just happened. He aimed his rifle at Ryu, but before he could fire, a small column of wind blew around him, knocking him off his feet as Ryu fired another burst of bullets at his chest, incapacitating him. He then turned towards Nina, who was holding up her hand.  
  
"Thanks." he quickly said right before he ran through a nearby alley with Nina behind him. From there, they ran down a few more streets before a shot rang out. It missed Nina's head and she tripped from the surprise. Ryu quickly stopped and hastily scanned the area around him. Another human, this time with a rifle, was crouched on top of a nearby house. With surprising accuracy and speed, Ryu quickly nailed him 3 bullets, causing him to drop off the house headfirst. Although he landed on snow it was still enough to break his neck. Nina got up from the ground and ran after Ryu.  
  
"Well, that was close." Ryu said casually. He took off with a partially shocked Nina behind him. As they turned a corner Ryu nearly bumped into a shotgun-toting woren. One slash to the torso from Ryu's sword and it was over for him. The two crossed a few more streets before the buildings disappeared and there was nothing but snow.  
  
"Quick! We have to get as far away as possible before stopping!" Shouted Ryu as he sheathed his sword and started running. Nina nodded and ran after him through the snow. About twenty seconds of running later a shot rang out and Ryu hit the ground.  
  
"Shit." He swore through clenched teeth as a wound formed on his leg and the snow around it turned red. Nina stopped and crouched by his side.  
  
"Don't worry Ryu, I think I can create a healing spell for this injury." She quickly stammered as she tried to hold back her fear.  
  
"No, I can handle it, just run!"  
  
Nina ignored Ryu's instruction and took her time focusing as much magic energy as possible in her hand. She then unleashed it on Ryu's wound, which started to slowly shrink. Ryu's breathing started to relax and wiped his forehead with his gloved hand. He looked towards Nina and the relieved expression on his face suddenly turned to fear.  
  
"Nina watch out!" He screamed. Nina turned around and the for the second time in the last two days, something hard hit her on the head and knocked her out.   
  
To be continued...  
  
Author's Note 2: Well, I hope you enjoyed it, please review. I'm sorry if I worried any of you with the long delay, as I got hit by another bout of Writer's Block and homework = bleh. Hopefully it's nothing but smooth sailing from this point on. 


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